Missouri voters reject both tobacco tax proposals

Missouri's lowest-in-the-nation cigarette tax will stay that way following the failure of two separate cigarette tax proposals. (AP)

KANSAS CITY, MO (AP) -

Missouri's lowest-in-the-nation cigarette tax will stay that way following the failure of two separate cigarette tax proposals.

Voters on Tuesday turned aside both Amendment 3 and Proposition A. As a result, the cigarette tax in the state will remain at 17 cents per pack.

Amendment 3 would have increased the cigarette tax by 60 cents per pack. It would have been phased in through 2020, and created a 67-cent-per-pack "equity" fee increasing annually for inflation on certain off-brand cigarettes.

Under Proposition A, the tax would have risen gradually to an additional 23 cents per pack by 2021. It also would have taxed non-cigarette tobacco products 5 percent of the manufacturer's invoice price, paid by the seller.

If both measures had passed, the one receiving the most votes would have been implemented.

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A Portland man who watched a solar eclipse in 1963 says the experience left him partially blind in one eye, and now he wants everyone to know the warnings about eye damage during the upcoming eclipse are no joke.

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